•I think animals are pretty stupid (even Maru) – and I say that without any resentment – and that their suffering is thus far less rich and significant than ours, but it’s not completely morally irrelevant (a pain-registering neuron matters, but it is not the case that all neurons are equal regardless of their larger mental context – that would be like saying A always equals A, despite radically varying sentence complexity, which is patently absurd).

•Mr. Spock on Star Trek is supposed to be vegetarian, though, and he’s a pretty logical guy. The actor playing the current version of Spock is also gay, it has been revealed, though it is not technically necessary to be gay or alien to be vegan. Here’s hoping “Live Long and Prosper” replaces “It Gets Better” as the new slogan for tolerance. I’d call those slogans sort of libertarian and progressive in tone, respectively. The conservative slogan would be “Well, It Could Be Worse.”

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Speaking of animal-related news pegs, I have to give the Federalist Society credit for its witty reaction to an L.A. Times story about a PETA lawsuit against Sea World.

The L.A. Times reports that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans to sue Sea World for violating the 13th Amendment--which bans slavery--by keeping killer whales at parks in San Diego and Orlando.

Do you think Sea World should respond that the whales are actually in prison for having murdered seals?